Senator Barbara Boxer has introduced a bill aimed at reclaiming a chunk of the Wall Street bonus boom.

TheCalifornia Democrat says she’s outraged that Wall Street firms are doling out billions of dollars in bonuses… even as American taxpayers continue to feel the pain from Wall Street’s mistakes. Now Senator Boxer is pushing a bill that imposes a 50-percent tax on bonuses in excess of 400-thousand dollars.

"It’s symbolic but it’s also real. We estimate we could see about $10 billion into the Treasury at a time when we’re looking hard for deficit reduction. And that’s what this money would go for – deficit reduction."

Republican critics of the approach say it’s a populist vote-getter at best… an expression of class warfare at worst. Boxer says it’s about fairness. The one-year bonus tax applies only to firms that were bailed out to the tune of five billion dollars or more.